Wood is inherently porous, and therefore has a very high inner surface area. Thus, deterioration of wood properties can occur via microbial or fungal activities on the inner surface of pores. The pore channels in the wood effectively absorb water through capillary action and the absorbed water can further affect the inner structure of wood. The moist conditions provide ideal living conditions for microbes and fungi. Accordingly, there is a need for effective wood preservation.
Glass fortified wood (glass wood) is lumber that has gone through a process that intermixes a non-toxic sodium silicate (water glass) based formula throughout the wood fibers. With glass encapsulating the wood fibers, the lumber becomes harder, its strength is increased and it is protected from fire, rot and insect damage. Glass wood can be used for in-ground contact applications and in-water applications. Furthermore, glass wood can be a Class A fire retardant.
However, the application of glass wood in areas such as furniture manufacture, in which light weight is required, is severely limited. In current methods of making glass fortified wood, the dehydration reaction of silica precursors is very difficult to control causing the silicon dioxide barrier to form indiscriminately both on the wood surface and in the wood pore resulting in a very heavy glass wood. Furthermore, the presence of high amount of abrasive silicon dioxide in the treated wood does not allow for the wood to be recycled for other uses. Accordingly, there is a need for a lightweight glass coating for wood which does not use high amounts of abrasive silicon dioxide filler.